Chapter Five

    I was standing on obsidian black ground, solid, yet uneven under my inebriated feet. The clashing of metal mixed in a discordant harmony with frequent and distant roars of sound and orange and red flashes of light. The lights lit up silhouettes of craggy mountains thickly choking out the horizon. My drunken brain sluggishly dredged up a word a single thought: Danger. 

    Red hair momentarily whipped out in a curtain of glossy, fiery strands in front of my face, pulling my attention back the immediate area. The crimson haired woman stood at my left hand side with her eyes closed, delicate eyebrows furrowed in concentration. While she stood there with her attention elsewhere, I had my first chance to really examine her. I gave her a not so subtle up and down, pausing for a few extra seconds on the good bits.

    I'm a gentleman, through and through. Swear it.

    My gentlemanly self pictured redhead there with invisible clothes.

    Despite the nearly deafening sounds of what seemed to be the sounds of war, I could hear perfectly the words that cut like a sword from the woman's gorgeous pink lips. Eyes still shut tight, she said icily, "We are in the middle of the single most destructive war this world has ever known. If you value your life in the least, you will stop leering at me, both eye and mind, and give heed to your surroundings."

    "I- Uhm- How-" I sputtered, drunken and confused. I got the distinct impression that had her eyes been open, she would have been rolling them in impatience.

    Her eyes did open then, snapping wide as she raised both arms and outstretching her open palms to the sky. Pressure seemed to crackle around her. She muttered, seemingly as an afterthought, "And if you do it again, I will break your neck. I am no tavern handmaid... fool." The last word was barely audible, but still loud enough for me to be scared as hell of this mystery woman.

    Those flowery pink lips opened and with it, the strange pressure around her seemed to reach a crescendo.

    She sang.

    You hear about people having angelic voices. Well, Redhead didn't have that. Instead, she had a voice that would make angels weep in sheer jealousy.

    Her voice carried out across the stony, endless field, over the sounds of battle. It rang out, a pure and effortless sound, like some sort of instrument of indescribable beauty. It might have lasted for minutes or even hours. I was hypnotized by her song, and all measure of time was lost.

    Once her song ended, my face was wet with tears and I yearned for more. I was so lost in the song that I failed to notice the great torrents of air billowing across the field in a rhythmic pattern. It wasn't until I was blown off my feet onto my ass that I looked up to a sight of pure terror.

    A forest green dragon of unbelievable size outstretched its wings and caught giant sized pockets of air to slow its descent before finally landing in a cloud of dust. It raised its house sized head and roared a challenge to the battlefield. Then its reptilian eyes fell upon me and my unlikely companion.

    Readhead smiled fondly at the behemoth, laid a hand on the side of its head and said, "Hello, Zsu'Zsuri."

(Going to post picture)
:)